Wet Illustrated

Wet Illustrated

RELEASES

1x1x1 (preferably pronounced one by one by one) is the debut LP from Wet Illustrated, conceived slowly and methodically over the past two years in San Francisco. After playing and touring in various Bay area bands for years Robbie Simon (drums/vocals), Tim Hellman (guitar), and Chrys Nodal (guitar) decided to start a group committed to celebrating the legacies of weirdo pop outsiders like the Soft Boys, Guided By Voices and the Swell Maps- writing jagged pop songs imbued with skewed hooks and personal yet playful lyrics.

After self-releasing their first 45 on freshly minted Corvette City Records they conceived, accumulated and eventually recorded an LP in Portland, OR with Justin Higgins (Hunches, Exit Dreams) in the summer of 2011. Enthralled by the amount of sound that could be packed onto the 2″ reel-to-reel tape at Higgins’ Old Standard Sound studio adorned their songs with spiraling and playful guitars and ancillary sounds. The end-result is an ecstatic 13-song collection that is both is explosive and littered with hidden subtleties and textures. The often hard-panned interplay of multi-tracked guitars evokes the guitar heroics of early Sonic Youth. The song structures which at first appear straightforward unravel to reveal sophisticated arrangements and evocative lyrics in the tradition of homespun pop-ists like The Homosexuals or Cleaners From Venus, all channelled through Wet Illustrated’s own idiosyncratic punk/pop visions.

The Bay Area is currently in what seems like a bit of a creative explosion with guitar-led garage/punk music. Wet Illustrated comes from this world, but doesn’t exist solely inside of it…1x1x1 does not rely on aping familiar relics from bygone eras or manufacturing new genres. Wet Illustrated use a familiar sonic pallet to project a layered and natural sound…distinctly Californian, psychedelic, shambolic, heart-felt and unique.